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Use of social
The use of social media in the B2B media
sales process: a meta synthesis
Graziela Perretto Rodrigues, Adriana Roseli Wünsch Takahashi and
Paulo Henrique Muller Henrique Prado
Departamento de Administração Geral e Aplicada,
Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil Received 18 February 2019
Revised 6 June 2019
22 July 2019
7 August 2019
Abstract Accepted 16 October 2019

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to understand how business-to-business organizations use social
media during the sales process.
Design/methodology/approach – The meta-synthesis steps methodology (Hoon, 2013) was applied.
Findings – This study presents a theoretical framework and contributes to improved
understanding of how business can use social media in the sales process stages. The results allow
identifying stages, discussing the integration between marketing and sales and generating benefits
for the organization.
Originality/value – The proposed framework helps in understanding the previously performed
fragmented studies. This study shows that social media use not only influences the sales process stages and
increases the benefits to the business but also works as a mediator in the relation between sales process stages
and identified benefits.
Keywords Meta-synthesis, Social media, Sales process, Business-to-business
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Social media is a technology that has been acquiring importance in our daily personal
and business lives. It has changed the business scenario because it has offered

© Graziela Perretto Rodrigues, Adriana Roseli Wünsch Takahashi and Paulo Henrique Muller
Henrique Prado. Published in RAUSP Management Journal. Published by Emerald Publishing
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legalcode
The authors contributed in the following ways to the paper: Perretto Rodrigues, Graziela Perretto,
Corresponding Author, Conceptualization (Lead), Formal analysis (Lead), Investigation (Lead),
Methodology (Lead), Project administration (Lead), Resources (Lead), Supervision (Lead), Validation
(Lead), Visualization (Lead), Writing-original draft (Lead), Writing-review & editing (Lead), Takahashi,
Adriana Roseli Wünsch, Conceptualization (Lead), Formal analysis (Supporting), Investigation
(Supporting), Methodology (Lead), Project administration (Supporting), Resources (Lead), Supervision
(Supporting), Validation (Supporting), Visualization (Supporting), Writing-original draft (Supporting),
Writing-review & editing (Supporting), Prado, Paulo Henrique Muller Henrique, Conceptualization
(Lead), Formal analysis (Supporting), Investigation (Supporting), Methodology (Supporting), Project
administration (Supporting), Resources (Supporting), Supervision (Supporting), Validation RAUSP Management Journal
(Supporting), Visualization (Supporting), Writing-original draft (Supporting), Writing-review & editing Emerald Publishing Limited
2531-0488
(Supporting). DOI 10.1108/RAUSP-02-2019-0024
RAUSP organizations a chance to communicate with clients in a more effective manner (Rapp,
Beitelspacher, Grewal, & Hughes, 2013). Social media usage has been a discussion
theme for academics and for professionals because it benefits business growth
(Lashgari, Sutton-Brady, Solberg Søilen, & Ulfvengren, 2018). More research is
required, however, to investigate its use by the sales force (Itani, Agnihotri, & Dingus,
2017).
Gradually, business is becoming aware of the importance of social media usage for client
relations and communication (Rodriguez, Peterson, & Krishnan, 2012), in addition to its use
as a platform for realizing online campaigns in which marketing actions are performed
(Khang, Ki, & Ye, 2012). Despite its relevance, there is no understanding of its impact on
organizational activities and how activities performed in the media influence the sales
process, thereby generating benefits for the organization.
Businesses sell products and services in a market that has become more competitive.
Moreover, a consumer is more careful in his purchase decision-making process because
of the considerable amount of available information. Based on these facts, businesses
should use new technology to enhance the sales process (Rodriguez, Ajjan, & Peterson,
2016) and allow information exchange with clients (Marshall, Moncrief, Rudd, & Lee,
2012).
Recently, as can be seen in the literature review, studies have investigated the
impact of social media on the sales process (Andzulis, Panagopoulos, & Rapp, 2012) in
studies that are related to social media use, sales capability and performance
(Rodriguez et al., 2012; Rodriguez et al., 2016), as well as in studies that focus on social
media use as a tool for customer relationship management (CRM) (Trainor, Andzulis,
Rapp, & Agnihotri, 2014). In these studies, there is a consensus that social media helps
in the sales process and generates performance. They show some converging aspects
by the existence of a relation between the use of social media and sales (Rodriguez et al.,
2016).
Other studies have been about social media use and product sales for consumers (B2C).
Companies that operate business to business (B2B) have started to explore social media,
although there is no understanding of whether its adoption favors sales (Brink, 2017;
Siamagka, Christodoulides, Michaelidou, & Valvi, 2015) or its organizational implications
(Ngai, Moon, Lam, Chin, & Tao, 2015). B2B companies have a sales process with a larger
number of stages that demands considerable effort to build and maintain customer
relationships using communication-related tools such as social media (Chang, 2014;
Rodriguez et al., 2012).
From the need to understand social media use in B2B negotiations and the lacunas
identified in the literature, this meta synthesis aims to answer the following research
question:

RQ1. How has social media been used by B2B organizations in the sales process?
To achieve this objective, the meta-synthesis methodology proposed by Hoon (2013) has
been applied. It allows the understanding of how companies use social media in the sales
process in an exploratory and inductive way since it seeks the information synthesis already
addressed in case study qualitative research. Thus, it is possible to gather information to
build the theory and subsequently present a theoretical pattern with concepts and new
perspectives, thereby contributing to the already existent theory. This study presents the
concepts of social media use, sales in B2B organizations, methodology, the results and final
considerations.
Social media use Use of social
New technologies arise and consolidate themselves in the market as social media, thus media
influencing the way business is performed. There is a requirement to identify emerging
technologies and know-how to operationalize them to be able to add value to organizational
activities (Marshall et al., 2012). Social media comprises applications that use the Internet as
support and allow creation, sharing and content exchanges by users e.g. YouTube and
Facebook (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
Social media helps professionals from marketing and sales areas. Both areas use this
media to help communicate not only with prospects and clients but also with other
stakeholders (Rodriguez et al., 2012). Social media allows sharing of content online,
facilitating social interaction and developing online networks (Agnihotri, Kothandaraman,
Kashyap, & Singh, 2012).
There is a tendency to use social media to help communicate with clients and to facilitate
sales (Itani et al., 2017). Social media use is not sufficient; it is necessary to understand its
application in the sales process, which comprises distinct activities. The efforts of those who
manage the sales force and support the salespeople are included in these activities (Guenzi,
Sajtos, & Troilo, 2016). This management aims to guide team efforts to the correct usage of
tools. Managers need to define how much to invest in social media. They ought to
understand how social media can be used in practice to support sales activities and
engender a relationship with clients (Trainor et al., 2014).
Some studies show that social media use is valuable to improve sales (Marshall et al.,
2012), and its use contributes to organizational results (Rodriguez et al., 2012). Moreover, to
establish the relationship between the business and consumers and in B2B negotiations,
social media use and sales activities are important (Rapp et al., 2013). Social media use is a
strategy that can be applied in B2B (Siamagka et al., 2015) contexts to understand and
develop customer relationships (Chang, 2014).

Sales in business to business organizations

B2B organizations usually have fewer customers and need to manage the relationship using
information technology systems (Chang, 2014). However, the adoption and implementation
of new technologies is a challenge because of the complexity of the B2B sales process, which
has a greater number of stages (Agnihotri, Dingus, Hu, & Krush, 2016; Rodriguez et al.,
2012; Siamagka et al., 2015).
A sale starts with the acquisition of clients in the market and comprises activities
arranged into different stages. D’Haen and Van den Poel (2013) proposed a framework that
divided the sales process into different stages related to the purchase funnel. The first stage
is the prospection of new potential clients (suspects). Second, the qualification of these
suspects according to the criteria defined by the business (prospects). Third, contact is made
with the prospects who are prepared to become an opportunity (qualified leads). Lastly,
qualified leads are prepared to become real business opportunities. In this framework, the
authors did not mention the post-sale stage, which involves tasks that aim to enhance client
satisfaction and loyalty (Dombrowski & Malorny, 2016) because the model focuses on client
acquisition.
Andzulis et al. (2012) cited the sales process stages and included follow-up activities after
sales closing. The stages are client acquisition, approach, understanding client
requirements, business opportunities, solution presentation, closing sales and the final client
follow-up.
RAUSP Methodology
The eight-step meta-synthesis methodology by Hoon (2013) was applied in this study (Table 1).
For case selection, the following keywords were searched: “social media” AND “sales*”. The
parameter - * - was used because of the need to search for words related to sales, such as sales
process and salesperson, because it is the salesperson who performs the sales activities that uses
social media. The databases used were Web of Knowledge and ProQuest. For a more assertive
selection, filters were selected: “title, abstract and keywords”, “article”, in the area of “applied
social science and business” in the last five years of publication. 173 study papers were then
identified in the search on Web of Knowledge and 127 in ProQuest. A total of 261 study papers
were found because some of them were in both databases. These studies were published in 133

Strategy or analytical Result that generated a theoretical

Meta-Synthesis steps Analytical objective procedure used contribution

1 Research question Readings about the The initial search for Theoretical lacuna identification
development proposed theme to articles in the database and research question development
identify a theoretical
lacuna
2 Discovery of Relevant publication Research for the Sample of 261 articles, among
relevant research identification in the keywords “social media” them 25 case studies
database and “sales” in the Web
of Knowledge and
ProQuest
3 Inclusion and Establish inclusion Abstract reading to Selection of seven studies
exclusion criteria and exclusion criteria criteria identification.
from selected articles Reading of 25 case
studies
4 Data extraction and Codify the Research paper detailed Data organization and the
data coding characteristics of the reading to tabulate the elaboration of a table with coding
selected research information and
papers and identify insights
insights
5 Case-specific level Identification and Casual links Themes, concepts and pattern
analysis analysis of variables: identification among identification
social media and variables
sales process
6 Synthesis on a Matching of specific Study variables Pattern and model identification
transversal level causal links of each classification and with the study variables, which are
case in a net aiming presentation of the classified to guarantee research
for the generation of a relationship found validity
pattern among the among the cases
variables
7 Theory Identification of The results were Theoretical framework proposal
construction from social media uses in grouped according to and research propositions, which
meta synthesis different stages of the their theoretical show the concepts and the relation
information sales process as the relevance among them
two of them together
generate benefits
8 Discussion Results, limitations Rigor, reliability and Validity legitimacy and procedure
and future research validity of results usage reliability
Table 1. discussion
Meta synthesis
protocol Source: Adapted from Hoon (2013)
journals. The main journals were Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Advertising Use of social
Research, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing media
Research and Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, all of which had eight studies. Both the
Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management and the Journal of Retailing and Consumer
Service had six studies. The others had five or fewer publications.
In the third step, 25 studies were selected for the meta-synthesis with the case study. A
complete reading of the 25 studies was performed to verify if they were in the investigation
scope. This eliminated another 18 studies (Table 2).

Criteria Justification References and Exclusion Reasons

1 Qualitative Case The exclusion of studies 186 quantitative studies were removed: 2 studies
Study that neither had a that used secondary data; 2 meta-analysis; 5 studies
qualitative approach nor with mixed-methodology; 1 used grounded theory; 1
used the case study did a comparative analysis; 1 used action research; 1
methodology did a discourse analysis; 7 studies used content
analysis
2 Conceptual Models Although considered Albers, Raman, and Lee (2015), Batra and Keller
and Literature important for scientific (2016), Bolos, Idemudia, Mai, Rasinghani, and Smith
Reviews development, theoretical (2016), Chen and Gao (2019), Drechsler and
study papers do not fulfill Weißschädel (2018), Flaherty et al. (2018), Habibi,
the objective to use the Hamilton, Valos, and Callaghan (2015), Hofacker,
primary data found in the Malthouse, and Sultan (2016), Lin, Swarna, and
empirical studies Bruning (2017), Lindsey-Mullikin and Borin (2017),
Marolt, Pucihar, and Zimmermann (2015), Ioanid,
Militaru and Mihai (2015), Moncrief (2017), Moncrief,
Marshall, and Rudd (2015), Nunan, Sibai, Schivinski,
and Christodoulides (2018), Oh (2017), Orozco (2016),
Papp-Vary (2015), Rane, Mulla, Sarguru, and Sayed
(2017), Roch and Mosconi (2016), Rodriguez et al.
(2016), Spragg (2017), Thorat, Deshpande, and Shaga
(2017), Zhao and Balagué (2015)
3 Studies not Studies that were not in 5 studies not available for download and 1 in Arabic
Accessible for search English and not available
for download
4 Adequate Scope to Only studies in which the Brink (2017) focuses only on social media use.
Research Question scope aligned with the Mahapatra Ramani, and Kulkarni (2019) focus on the
research question were B2B market but does not mention social media use
considered and sales process. Annett-Hitchcock and Xu (2015),
Arriaga, Andreu Domingo, and Berlanga Silvente
(2017), Bohlin, Shaikh, and Hanafizadeh (2018), de
Brito Silva, Santana, and da Costa (2018), Garner,
Goldberg, and Pou (2017), Gilfoil, Aukers, and Jobs
(2015), Jones, Borgman, and Ulusoy (2015), Kim,
Dwivedi, Zhang, and Jeong (2016), Mirza (2014),
Nicoli and Papadopoulou (2017), Shemi and Procter
(2018), Valos, Haji Habibi, Casidy, Driesener, and
Maplestone (2016) are B2C studies. Mauroner (2016)
investigates social media impact in the creative
process and Sanakulov et al. (2018) verify how
salespeople use social media Table 2.
Inclusion and
Source: Adapted from Hoon (2013) exclusion criteria
RAUSP The selected studies for the meta-synthesis are listed in Table 3. It can be observed that six of
them were published in journals A1 (H Index > 24) and one classified as A2 (24 <= H Index <
9) according to the QUALIS from CAPES criteria, which indicates high-impact journals.
Table 4 shows the coding and extraction of data. The final guide had 42 items.

Data analysis
After data coding, seven selected articles were analyzed, and a transversal level synthesis
was realized. It was possible to suggest a theoretical framework and present research
propositions with this data.

SJR* (H
Author(s) (year) Title Journal index)

Andersson and Why and how are social media used in a B2B Journal of Business & 55
Wikström (2017) context, and which stakeholders are involved? Industrial Marketing
Bocconcelli et al.Social media as a resource in SMEs’ sales processes Journal of Business & 55
(2017) Industrial Marketing
Cron (2017) Macro sales force research Journal of Personal Selling 55
& Sales Management
Järvinen and Harnessing marketing automation for B2B content Industrial Marketing 106
Taiminen (2016) marketing Management
Karjaluoto et al. The role of digital channels in industrial marketing Journal of Business & 55
(2015) communications Industrial Marketing
Lashgari et al. Adoption strategies of social media in B2B firms: a Journal of Business & 55
(2018) multiple case study approach Industrial Marketing
Lipiäinen (2015) CRM in the digital age: Implementation of CRM in Journal of Systems and 17
three contemporary B2B firms Information Technology

Notes: SJR – Scimago Journal & Country Rank. Retrieved on July 29, 2019 from Retrieved from www.
Table 3. scimagojr.com/
Articles Source: The authors (2019)

Items for Analysis Items detailing

General Information Author(s), title, journal, year, and kind of study

What are the Authors’ Objectives, survey questions, and theoretical contributions
Intentions?
Theoretical Framework How social media use and sales process are conceptualized. How the study
discusses the relation between the concepts in the B2B business
Context Definition Country, industry/sector, context, local and research alignment
Methodology Research design, approach, analysis unit, number of cases, and sampling
strategy
Techniques and Data Data collection techniques, source and data management
Collection Sources
Data Analysis Methods and data analysis techniques
What are the Insights? Main results and insights
Table 4. Discussion Findings discussion, theoretical/managerial contributions, and limitations
Coding and General Evaluation Relevance evaluation and research reliability
extraction data
criteria Source: Adapted from Hoon (2013)
Case-specific level analysis Use of social
To be able to develop this meta-synthesis from each selected case study, the causal relations media
between the variables (social media use and sales process) were confirmed. A theoretical
framework was elaborated from the synthesis information of each case (Figure 1).
This framework gathers the main results of each analyzed study. Social media use
encompasses the development of content to be published in social media (Lashgari et al.,
2018). Other already consolidated tools in marketing and sales, such as CRM, continue to be
used by companies. Because of the influence of social media, it is suggested that CRM be
used along with social media (Cron, 2017) and thus it is presented as a social CRM concept
(Lipiäinen, 2015). It is suggested that a company use social media in conjunction with the
content marketing technique (material and text creation) published in different online media
and with the support of other available tools. These technologies influence the sales process
(Bocconcelli, Cioppi, & Pagano, 2017; Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016; Karjaluoto, Mustonen &
Ulkuniemi, 2015); however, they are modified when used because social media use and sales
process stages suffer each other’s influence. Finally, social media use in the sales process
stages generates benefits for the organization (Andersson & Wikström, 2017; Bocconcelli
et al., 2017; Karjaluoto et al., 2015; Lipiäinen, 2015).
The proposed framework shows that the functional marketing and sales areas should be
integrated (Andersson & Wikström, 2017; Bocconcelli et al., 2017) because the stages that form
the process have activities in both areas. However, closing sales is a task with commercial
intent and is directly realized with clients. In the B2B context, clients perform repetitive
purchases, and the focus in this market is to create loyal relationships (Chang, 2014); therefore,
clients that have gone through the post-sales stage can become potential clients again, i.e.
prospects or leads. Because of the small number of clients, they end up purchasing again from
the supplier, which strengthens the necessity to include a post-sales step.
The detail on how these presented relationships were identified is displayed in the
following topics.

Transversal level study synthesis

The transversal analysis aimed to show the relation between the variables (meta-causal). A
mapping was done, which was displayed in summary in Table 5.
Table 5 shows the main insights and highlights the essential information for the
development of the proposed framework.

Technology Sales Process Stages Benefits

(Marketing and Sales) (Marketing and Sales) (General Organization)

Greater Client
Identification of Potential Relationship
Clients Sales Support
Social Media Use Prospection Branding/Corporate Image
(Content Marketing, Contact → Leads Talent Recruitment
Online Media, and Other Service and Products
Tools) → Efficiency in Prospecting
Presentation → Customers and Suppliers
Social CRM Opportunities
Service and Products
Closing Sales → Clients Presentation
Post-sales (communication +
demonstration)
B2B Context
Figure 1.
Meta causal net
Source: The authors (2019)
 Synthesis
Table 5.
development
for the Meta-
Articles information
Article Objective
1 Explore why and how the B2B
business uses social media and
how its stakeholders communicate
through these media
2 Explore the social media impact of
adoption in the sales process in
small and medium companies
3 Research the sales force in a macro
perspective. Thus, the
organizational strategic evolution
has been drastically changing this
sales force role
These changes are analyzed
through five sales capabilities
listed in the “The Strategic Role”
article
4 Identify what benefits the B2B
companies can have when using
marketing tools. Examine how to
combine marketing content use in
Concepts
Digital media is a communication
platform, promote a relationship
with all stakeholders. The sales
process involves multiple
participants
Social media is a group of
internet applications that permit
the creation and sharing of
contents
The authors do not conceptualize
the sales process, they talk about
e-selling concept which is active
sales where there is an online
interaction with clients
Social media and CRM systems
are considered as a digital
technology that impacts sales
force. The author mentions only
sales process complexity. The
sales funnel and the prospection
is mentioned along the text
Social media are online channels
to share contents. The sales
process comprises the sales
funnel stages: suspects,
prospects, leads, e-deals
Relation between Variables
Salespeople use social media to
share information, present
services, and create customer
value
Social media is used as a
marketing and commercial area
resource
It is a support in the sales
process stages
Digital technology influences
sales force for it is capable to
generate a value proposition that
creates a relationship with
clients. It helps to understand the
client’s needs
Present marketing content and
marketing automation concepts.
The objective is to offer support
in the sales funnel stages
RAUSP
Contributions
They confirm social media use by
B2B companies in communication
activities to increase sales and to
build their brands. However, they
amplify their findings showing
social media use as a collaborator
recruiting tool, prospection, and
product and service display for
clients (post-sales)
Social media is a valuable resource
for communication and sales
realization. Its use has increased
enterprise visibility analyzed in the
foreign market, besides permitting
relationship maintenance with
foreign clients and providing sales
process support. The sales
approach has become better
planned and pro-active
Sales force communicates a value
proposition. It is required for a
client relationship in the long term.
Only sales support is not enough
Identify social media use in the
sales funnel stages. Discuss the
integration between marketing and
sales showing the results in sales
support, prospection, client
(continued)
Article Objective
sales. Illustrate how marketing and
sales systems are integrated
5 Investigate the use of marketing
communication tools and digital
channels
6 Explore the factors that contribute
to the adoption of marketing and
communication strategies in the
use of social media in small and
medium-sized B2B companies
7 Understand the CRM use and its
relation to social media
Notes: 1 – Andersson and Wikström (2017); 2 – Bocconcelli et al. (2017); 3 – Cron (2017); 4 – Järvinen and Taiminen (2016); 5 – Karjaluoto et al. (2015); 6 –
Lashgari et al. (2018); 7 – Lipiäinen (2015)
Source: The authors (2019)
Table 5.
Concepts
Social media are support
platforms to promote social
interaction. The authors do not
conceptualize the sales process
but mention the prospection,
leads creation, and client’s
acquisition
Social media are platforms
categorized into four groups:
blogs, online communities,
microblog, and social nets.
The authors only mention leads
creation in sales
Social media is a technology to
build and maintain client
relationships; in addition, to offer
support to information gathering
and leads creation. The sales
process is a compound of CRM
stages
Relation between Variables
They relate the communication
present on social media with the
prospection, leads creation, and
client’s acquisition stages
Each content created in social
media attends to a specific
objective, one of them being leads
creation. Social media facilitates
communication and
dissemination of information
which helps in sales since it
offers sales support to display
services and products
The author confirms the relation
between social media and sales
but does not detail the stages,
which becomes implicit since the
CRM comprises these steps
Contributions
relationship, and corporate image
building
The literature indicates three social
media use objectives and the study
offers support to two of them:
client relationship and sales
support. They find partial support
in social media communication use
focused on leads creation
The authors develop a model of
social media and communication
adoption. Social media helps the
creation of leads. In general, the
published information in social
media contributes to the growth of
business and promotes innovation
The author presents “Social CRM”
concept. Social media and CRM are
the tools and technologies used to
achieve marketing strategies.
Social media alters the research
about sales since it influences the
whole process
media
Use of social
RAUSP Theory development from meta synthesis and results discussion
The studies of social media use and its relation to B2B negotiations offer a partial view
about the theme. This meta-synthesis proposes a wide framework that embraces the main
results in the research area using the case study method (Hoon, 2013).
From the articles that were analyzed, it is proposed that social media use is a tool that
comprises as much the creation as the exchange of content by users (Kaplan & Haenlein,
2010). The studies mentioned some of these tools, such as Facebook, Instagram and
Youtube, as well as suggesting explanations about their use (Andersson & Wikström, 2017;
Bocconcelli et al., 2017; Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016). Lipiäinen (2015) and Cron (2017)
highlighted the CRM tool. Lipiäinen (2015) discussed the CRM social concept and showed
the strong social media influence in the tools already used in the marketing area.
Järvinen & Taiminen (2016) presented the requirement for greater integration between
sales and marketing areas. The objective was the use of fewer resources for the leads
qualification stage, leaving more options to apply in all sales processes. This integration
resulted in a greater volume of qualified leads and resource optimization. Another benefit
was the sales support; however, with resource optimization, there was a possibility of
increased focus on the relationship between consumers and salespeople, which generated
better results in the long-term (Andersson & Wikström, 2017).
This integration between consumers and salespeople is benefited by better
communication, which is only possible with greater agility in the process, knowledge about
message monitoring and use of media and online tools (Bocconcelli et al., 2017; Karjaluoto
et al., 2015). This justifies the requirement to propose a framework that shows the
visualization of social media use and its impact on the sales process.
The discussion about the integration between sales and marketing areas in the use of
social media in sales activities (Bocconcelli et al., 2017; Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016;
Karjaluoto et al., 2015) is relevant in the literature. Thus, it is proposed:

P1. Social media use should be performed by sales and marketing areas that enjoy the
benefits of this integration.
In addition to social media and CRM, marketing automation, content marketing, e-mail use,
and blogging, are tools found in studies (Andersson & Wikström, 2017; Bocconcelli et al.,
2017), but this does not prevent social media from being a post-sales tool or a prospection;
however, more studies in the area are necessary. For these reasons, it was decided to study
the use of social media as a whole and not specify each media. These media frequently
change (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) and it is as difficult to understand them as it is to identify
qualified professionals to use them adequately (Andersson & Wikström, 2017).
In addition to social media and CRM tools, marketing automation, content marketing, e-mail
use and blogging, are found in studies (Andersson & Wikström, 2017; Bocconcelli et al., 2017;
Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016; Karjaluoto et al., 2015; Lashgari et al., 2018; Lipiäinen, 2015). This fact
reinforces the requirement to understand the importance of social media use and its influence, i.e.
its logic of use and not the specific application of each media because they change constantly. The
use in the sales process steps brings the companies benefits, including client relationship and
sales support (Andersson & Wikström, 2017; Bocconcelli et al., 2017; Karjaluoto et al., 2015;
Lashgari et al., 2018; Lipiäinen, 2015), improved corporate image and branding (Andersson &
Wikström, 2017; Karjaluoto et al., 2015) and help in talent recruitment, prospection, service and
product presentation (Andersson & Wikström, 2017; Bocconcelli et al., 2017):

P2. The use of social media (content marketing, online media and other tools) in the
sales process stages creates benefits to organizations such as better relationship
 with clients, sales support, improvement of the corporate image and brand, help Use of social
with talent recruitment, enhanced prospection of clients and suppliers and services media
and products presentation.
There is consensus in the literature that social media use offers sales support; however, the
inclusion of all stages in a single framework is a differential. Post-sales is a great application
stage in the business accomplishment among companies because of its impact on client
relationship and maintenance contact (Bocconcelli et al., 2017; Chang, 2014). For this reason,
it must not be left out of the proposed model. Moreover, all the proposed stages demand
tasks that can be done by sales and marketing, which are areas that must work together
(Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016; Karjaluoto et al., 2015). B2B sales process suffers social media
use influence. After client contact is made, this process again influences social media
because it promotes client interaction and engagement with the value proposal creation
(Bocconcelli et al., 2017; Cron, 2017). Thus, a third proposition is presented:

P3a. Social media use influences sales processes, composed of the stages of
identification of potential clients, prospection, contact with clients, service and
products presentation, closing sales and post-sales.
P3b. Social media use is a mediator between the sales process stages and the benefits
generated for the organization.
The interaction occurs all the time. The organization interacts with clients in social media and
they provide information. Much more optimized content is published because of this constant
exchange. The value is then co-created between the parties because both manifest themselves in
the sales process (Lipiäinen, 2015). Cron (2017) emphasized that this interaction brings a value
proposal. This joint work (social media in the B2B sales process) offers benefits to the companies
such as improved customer assistance and content offerings adequate to the client’s expectations.
There are three benefits consolidated in the literature and recurrently appearing in the
analyzed articles (greater client relationships, sales support and corporate image/branding).
This study has identified three other benefits and has added them to the proposed
framework (Karjaluoto et al., 2015; Andersson & Wikström, 2017; Bocconcelli et al., 2017).
Finally, the discussion about CRM social concept in a B2B context (Lipiäinen, 2015) reinforces
social media relevance. Its use has been changing the way companies operate already
consolidated tools such as CRM, thus modifying the business model, including B2B negotiations.

Final considerations
The general objective has been achieved because the building of a theoretical framework
was obtained from data found in empirical studies according to the meta synthesis method
(Hoon, 2013). Three theoretical contributions have been shown:
(1) social media use demands activities in the marketing and sales areas;
(2) social media use influences the sales process stages and brings a series of benefits
to companies; and
(3) social media influences the sales process stages while acting as a mediator in the
relation between these stages and the identified benefits.

Research about social media use and B2B sales processes are fragmented; the present study
permitted a wide framework view. The qualitative case studies offered relevant information for
developing this model and to verify repetitive information among studies. The relevance of
these concepts to the problem proposed in the research has been demonstrated. The selected
RAUSP cases were published between 2015 and 2018, which shows the current importance of this
theme. Conceptual study models were found, reinforcing the existence of opportunities for
research and theory development. Comparisons among different studies are necessary to
discuss and consolidate the concepts in the area while new studies can complement this study.
Future research can test the proposed framework and increase the understanding of the
consequences of social media use using large-, medium- and small-sized companies.
It is a consensus in the literature that social media use helps the relationship with clients,
branding and sales support. However, its use extrapolates these points. According to Lipiäinen
(2015) and Cron (2017), social media use is much more than a sales and support technology; it is
an essential element in value co-creation. Future studies could advance the understanding of
this interaction between business and clients in the creation of a value proposal (Cron, 2017),
thus investigating and measuring client engagement during the sales process.
A limitation of this study is the number of studies using the case study method about the
theme, only seven articles being analyzed. Despite the existence of but a few studies, they
were published in high-impact journals, which shows the relevance of the analysis and its
potential contribution to future studies.

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Corresponding author
Graziela Perretto Rodrigues can be contacted at: grazielarodrigues@gmail.com

Associate Editor: Filipe Quevedo-Silva

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